Representatives of two classes of thiazolidine prodrug forms of the well-known radioprotective agents L-cysteine, cysteamine, and 2-[(aminopropyl)amino]ethanethiol (WR-1065) were synthesized by condensing the parent thiolamine with an appropriate carbonyl donor. Inherent toxicity of the prodrugs was assessed in V79 cells using a clonogenic survival assay. Protection against radiation-induced cell death was measured similarly after exposure to 0--8 Gy gamma ((137)Cs) radiation. Antimutagenic activity was determined at the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRT) locus. All thiazolidine prodrugs exhibited less toxicity than their parent thiolamines, sometimes dramatically so. Protection against radiation-induced cell death was observed for the 2-alkylthiazolidine, 2(R,S)-D-ribo-(1',2',3',4'-tetrahydroxybutyl)thiazolidine (RibCyst), which produced a protection factor at 8 Gy of 1.8; the cysteine analogue, 2(R,S)-D-ribo-(1',2',3',4'-tetrahydroxybutyl)thiazolidine-4(R)-carboxylic acid (RibCys), was less active. RibCyst also exhibited excellent antimutational activity, rivaling that of WR-1065. The 2-oxothiazolidine analogues showed little activity in either determination under the conditions tested, perhaps due to their enhanced chemical and biochemical stability.
Exposure to the thiolamine radioprotector N-(2-mercaptoethyl)-1,3-propanediamine (WR-1065) induced apoptosis in the mouse TB8.3 hybridoma after a 60-min (LD50 = 4.5 mM) or during a 20-h (LD50 = 0.15 mM) exposure. In contrast, a 20-h exposure to 17 mM L-cysteine or 10 mM cysteamine was required to induce 50% apoptosis within 20 h. Apoptosis was not induced by either a 60-min or 20-h exposure to 10 mM of the thiazolidine prodrugs ribose-cysteine (RibCys) or ribose-cysteamine (RibCyst). Thiolamine-induced apoptosis appeared to be a p53-independent process since it was induced by WR-1065 exposure in human HL60 cells. Exposure to WR-1065 (4 mM for 15 min) or cysteine (10 mM for 60 min) before and during irradiation protected cells against the induction of both DNA double-strand breaks and apoptosis, while exposure to RibCys (10 mM for 3 h) did not. Treatment with either WR-1065, cysteine, RibCys or RibCyst for 60 min beginning 60 min after irradiation did not affect the level of radiation-induced apoptosis. In contrast, treatment with either cysteine, cysteamine or RibCys for 20 h beginning 60 min after irradiation enhanced radiation-induced apoptosis. Similar experiments could not be conducted with WR-1065 because of its extreme toxicity. Our results indicate that thiolamine enhancement of radiation-induced apoptosis is not involved in their previously reported capacity to reduce radiation-induced mutations.
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